Sunday, March 25, 2018

100 Years Ago


One hundred years ago today one of my favorite people was born. My Grandma. No matter how many years I live, by the time I get to the end of my life, she will remain one of my great loves.

How I would love to hold her hand and ask her questions about life and art and antiques and people she has known.
 How I would love to walk into her kitchen and hear her ask me, "Whatcha know good?"
How I would love to drive through the country with her, listening to her exclaim how beautiful the leaves are. Or the dappled sunlight. Or the bluebird.
How I would love to be with her in an antique store and watch her pick up a piece of pottery and, holding it in her hand, comment on how it feels so good.
It is a strange feeling that I don't miss her all that much. Not as much as I expected to. I don't feel like she is with me. I feel like she is a part of me.

I work out most things through writing. Below are some notes I took after she passed.

*****

If you are here today, you are blessed and lucky. If you are here today, you know that you are loved. No matter who she was to you, no matter what you called her, Elizabeth Royal loved you. That is the kind of person she was. The heart she had was full of love and light and life. She cultivated beauty. She appreciated sport and history and art and poetry. A poem she had committed to memory, “The Coin” by Sara Teasdale, was one of her favorites.

Into my heart’s treasury
I slipped a coin
That time cannot take
Nor a thief purloin, --
Oh better that the minting
of a gold-crowned king
Is the safe kept memory
of a lovely thing.

How blessed and lucky we all are to have such a beautiful collection of memories, gatherings of joy and light that she left with us. How blessed and lucky we are to have had her love. She collected the memories we gave her as well, as Elizabeth Royal was a great curator. She took the time to notice details, colors and textures. She found beauty everywhere. An antique quilt. A country sunset. The autumn leaves. Hand-blown glass. She had extensive collections of everything from Hummels to Jeff Gordon racecars to D.X. Gordy pottery. Her most valued collection though is that of which you are a part, her collection of friends and family whom she prized and loved. She loved beauty. She loved you.

If you are here today, you have been blessed. You are lucky. As you have been loved by God through His beautiful creation, Elizabeth Royal.


If you are here today, you are blessed and lucky. If you are here today, you know that you are loved. No matter who she was to you, no matter what you called her, Elizabeth Royal loved you. That is the kind of person she was. The heart she had was full of love and light and life. When you left her, you knew she believed in you, she loved you as you were, and she supported you in your every endeavor. She always had a kind word for anyone she came across; nothing brought her more joy than making someone laugh. “Let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves knows God.” Elizabeth Royal’s life is an example each of us can draw from as we strive to live a life of love.

Saint Teresa of Avila wrote “You are Christ’s hands”; Elizabeth Royal believed it and lived it.

“Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
No hands but yours,
No feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which is to look out
Christ’s compassion to the world;
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.”

Elizabeth Royal brought joy to everyone who knew her. With her hands and feet and sweet spirit, she shared the love of God with each of us. She loved to ride out to Pike County to get peaches every June. She’d get several bushels, and upon returning home, would immediately commence to divvying up the peaches into brown paper sacks that she could then take to her friends—shut-ins she called some, elderly she called others, even when she herself was approaching 90. She spent much of her time sending out greeting cards and delivering peaches or tomatoes and bringing kindness to people around her.

Though she never stood much above five feet, Elizabeth Royal ran hurdles in high school. She loved watching all types of sports. She spent many years tuned into every Braves game. She was NASCAR’s biggest fan. She also loved history and art and poetry. A poem she had committed to memory, “The Coin” by Sara Teasdale, was one of her favorites.

Into my heart’s treasury
I slipped a coin
That time cannot take
Nor a thief purloin, --
Oh better that the minting
of a gold-crowned king
Is the safe kept memory
of a lovely thing.

How blessed and lucky we all are to have such a beautiful collection of memories, gatherings of joy and light that she left us with. How blessed and lucky we are to have had her love. She collected the coins we gave her as well, as our Tin Lizzie was a great curator. She loved beautiful things. Touch was very important to her. When examining something she found interesting, she would often say, “Ooohh, that feels so good.” She took the time to notice beauty; she appreciated it. Country sunsets. Autumn leaves. Hand blown glass. She had extensive collections of everything from Hummels to Jeff Gordon racecars to D.X. Gordy pottery. Her most valued collection though is that of which you are a part, her collection of friends and family whom she prized and loved. She loved beauty. She loved you.

If you are here today, you have been blessed. You are lucky. As you have been loved by God through His beautiful creation, Elizabeth Royal.


Monday, January 30, 2017

throw back








This little ditty is from October 2011.

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Things our children said on Christmas Day


 If I eat this fudge, I'll get Santa powers.


I can give one (yellow rubber sling chicken) to Landon and he'll go "kapowsky."



 We are definitely not too old for this.




This is the best Christmas ever and one I can remember because I'm older.



Merry Christmas to you and yours. xo




Thursday, March 31, 2016

Interests, March

We had a good time at the community Easter Egg Hunt.

Elliott is playing the pitching position in baseball this season. (He doesn't pitch; he fields from the pitching mound.) Lucia is playing first base in softball. I don't have any pictures of her yet, because I keep the book for most of her games. Mazie is taking tennis lessons one day a week.
We had third quarter honor roll this month. Lucia, Elliott, and Mazie all made all A's. Elliott and Mazie also won an art award.

The above picture was the winner for the second grade. Mazie drew it of Jerry the mouse.
Lucia's scene of a busy forest did not place, but it is beautiful with such lovely details.
Elliott won third place for his classroom with this picture of a shark, crabs, and a lighthouse.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Interests, February




We are loving Weird Al Yankovich songs, especially any about Star Wars.


We finished up basketball season. H and I had a great time watching them compete. Mazie is 55 on the yellow team. Lucia is 42 on black team. Elliott is 1 on the black team. 
















We love making lists. H and I are both list makers and we seem to have passed this on to our three. The first list below is one Mazie posted over her light switch. The second index card was found outside in the yard.




We have had several bouts of bad weather lately. When we have weather warnings, we hang out in the hall. The three always fill their suitcases with things they don't want to lose. Then we all lay around the hall and work on homework or play games. We like when H is home with us because we can listen to her emergency radio.




 We have started our first phase of orthodontics. It is much more advanced from when I had braces. All three have palatal expanders for about six months. We turn them once a week and after time they well make more room in the mouth. Orthodontists do this now rather than pulling teeth. 



We had a major mishap the beginning of the month. We have had a dead dogwood tree right off our patio for a while now. I thought it would be lots of fun for Elliott to try to knock the tree over. Well, it ended up being a not so good idea. He started with his body weight, then went to a crow bar. Then Mazie brought him an aluminum bat. That is where it all went wrong. The bat ricocheted off the tree and hit him across the face. 
I think Elliott and I learned a lesson that day.




Finally, we made a huge lifestyle change in February--we got even more pets! Elliott has been wanting a bird for about six months. When Santa didn't bring him one, we told him we'd get him one. His cockatiel is named Frankie. Elliott is taking very good care of him. Frankie loves to ride around on a shoulder and is a happy bird. He is very easy to like.


 Lucia chose a bunny for her new pet. She has several names for her rabbit, but BunBun is the one that seems to have stuck the most. Carrot and cottontail are also names this sweet little love goes by.
 Mazie chose a gerbil for her pet. His name is Little Gary. He likes to make beds and hide his food.